Maggie Smith
By Jennifer Buckley
College of Fine Arts and Communication Media Office
CONWAY — Award-winning writer Maggie Smith will visit the University of Central Arkansas as artist-in-residence Feb. 13-14.
The residency will include a free public reading followed by a Q&A and book signing in the College of Business auditorium 107 at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13.
Smith has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ohio Arts Council and The Sustainable Arts Foundation.
Her poem “Good Bones”, labeled “the official poem of 2016” by Public Radio International, went viral internationally in 2016. Smith’s books include “The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison,” and “Lamp of the Body.”
Smith is also the author of several award-winning chapbooks.
“Maggie Smith writes about the timely issues of our day in a finely-tuned voice,” said Sandy Longhorn, assistant professor of Creative Writing and faculty sponsor for the residency. “Her themes speak to the larger climate of fear that has crept into our worldview and how we might combat that fear for a better future.”
Smith works as a freelance writer and editor and is also a consulting editor for the “Kenyon Review.” She previously taught Creative Writing at the college level. She also worked as an assistant editor for a children’s trade book publisher.
Her works have appeared in “The New York Times”, “Best American Poetry”, “Tin House”, “The Believer” and “The Paris Review”, among other publications.
“In addition to her stellar work as a poet, Smith offers valuable insights into supporting her literary work as a freelance writer and editor,” Longhorn said. “Her connection work for the ‘Kenyon Review’, one of the top literary magazines in the nation, will also offer the UCA community an insider’s view into this level of publishing.”
Other residency activities include a masterclass with graduate students at 4 p.m. Feb. 13 in Win Thompson Hall 331 and a craft talk and Q&A at 11 a.m. Feb. 14, also in Thompson 331.
For more information about the residency, contact Longhorn at 501-450-5108 or Slonghorn@uca.edu.
The Artist in Residence program is funded by UCA’s arts fee and is administered by the College of Fine Arts and Communication. For more information about the program, call the Office of the Dean, College of Fine Arts and Communication, at 501-450-3293 or e-mail jdmiller@uca.edu.
The UCA College of Fine Arts and Communication includes the Departments of Art, Music, and Film, Theatre and Creative Writing, as well as the School of Communication. The College’s primary mission is the preparation of the next generation of artists, educators and communicators. For more information about CFAC, visit www.uca.edu/cfac or call 501-450-3293.
